False Flame
by Nightlingbolt
Summary: Erza knew better than to listen to Natsu. Now she's stuck in a false relationship with him, all with the goal of making Jellal wake up and smell the cheesecake. But will she wake up to something else entirely? Natza, little sprig of Jerza to move the plot along. Cliche plot is cliche.


**Hello, people! Nightlingbolt here! Welcome to my new project, "False Flame."**

**I'm not too keen on the plot of this story, since I find the whole fake relationship thing to be a massive cliche. So I'm not so sure how this is gonna turn out. Hopefully I won't want to vomit from this debacle a year or two from now. Still, if there's a well-written fake relationship fic out there you want me to see, don't be afraid to link me to it on Twitter or Tumblr. I could use a frame of reference to help me along the way.**

**Welp... here we go. I just know this is gonna be a godawful mess of a fic. Oh well, enjoy.**

**I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, Hiro Mashima does.**

* * *

Another successful job in the books, and Natsu was currently engaged in a post-job fishing trip. He found it helped him collect his thoughts after a mission, and also calmed him down if he was all fired up and the job was too easy.

The team had met up with Crime Sorciere, and Erza had conferred with Jellal about their target. Nothing unusual, except when she came back, she looked somewhat troubled, and when the time came to fight the dark guild, he could tell her head wasn't in the game. Hell, he even had to _save_ her once! He chewed her out for it when everything was settled, and honestly, it felt weird for him to be yelling at Erza for once.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of red hair. Speak of the devil. "Erza!" he said happily.

"Natsu?" Erza gasped in surprise. "What are you doing here? This isn't your usual fishing river."

"Yeah, nothing's biting in the usual spot. It's weird," said Natsu. "What brings you out here?"

"This is the river where I come to think," replied Erza.

"Hm," said Natsu. "Hey listen, sorry I yelled at you on that job. It's just-"

"I know!" said Erza as calmly as she could while still sounding forceful. "I let outside matters affect my performance. You were right to reprimand me."

Neither spoke for a few moments. Finally, Erza sat down next to Natsu. "So do I need to kick Jellal's ass?" the Dragon Slayer asked.

"What makes you say that?" Erza asked right back.

"Isn't he why you got distracted?"

Erza sighed. "You don't care if I vent off of you, do you?" she asked.

"Go ahead," replied Natsu.

"Jellal… almost kissed me," Erza admitted with a blush and much hesistation.

This confession confused Natsu. "The hell ya mean almost?" he questioned.

"He leaned into me, our noses were touching… and he made some excuse and ran off," said Erza.

Natsu frowned. Honestly, if he had hurt someone as deeply as Jellal had done to Erza, he would have every reason in the world not to get romantically involved with them. But he knew better than to say that to Erza's face, and anyway, the man that hurt Erza never really existed to begin with, and the only person who didn't realize that was Jellal himself.

"I don't know," said Erza. "I want to be with him, but I'm sick of always getting the runaround from him! That idiot will probably never be satisfied until he removes all traces of Zeref from the world, but I don't want him to save the world, I just want him!" Erza gave a heavy sigh. "Sometimes, I feel like I should give up on him."

"Then why don't you?" said Natsu angrily. "You deserve him, but if he's not gonna man up about it, then he doesn't deserve you!"

"I deserve him, but he doesn't deserve me? That doesn't even make sense!" said Erza.

"Well, he's not gonna man up and be with you on his own, is he?" Natsu pointed out. Suddenly he made a face like something occurred to him. "But I bet I know how we can make him man up."

"What are you getting at?" Erza wondered.

"Hear me out on this," said Natsu. "What if you had a fake boyfriend?"

Erza's eyes widened in disbelief. "A fake boyfriend?" she repeated. "Why would I ever fake a relationship with someone?"

"Easy," said Natsu. "Step one: we announce to the guild that we're together. Step two: we go on dates where we'll be easily recognized by tabloids and reporters. Step three: Jellal finds out through the grapevine, and next time he sees you, lays it all out in front of you now that he's got nothing to lose. Step four: we break up, you return Jellal's feelings, and you both live happily ever after!"

"A fake relationship…" Erza murmured to herself. "Could it really be that simple?"

"Trust me!" said Natsu. "All it takes is a little jealousy to make a guy like Jellal realize what's important!"

Erza was silent. She didn't know if what Natsu was proposing was a good idea, especially considering past instances of his genius. She still cringed at the memory of his intrusion on her trial.

But would Jellal recognize his own feelings as a result? Was this really the only way she could find her happy ending with the boy she loved since childhood?

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I suppose," said Erza with a smile.

"Awesome!" said Natsu. He leaned into Erza's personal space, his lips puckered…

…Only to get an armored fist to the face for his trouble.

"Explain yourself!" Erza demanded harshly.

"I… I was gonna kiss you!" said Natsu nervously. "If this is gonna work, we need to get used to kissing each other, so… dontkillme!"

Erza glared at Natsu for a moment. Finally relenting, she said, "I suppose so. But there is one question I feel the need to ask."

"Sure. What?" asked Natsu.

"How do you even have knowledge of this idea? I mean, it's very… Natsuish, but at the same time… not," said Erza.

"Remember you missed movie night last week because you got requested for a job?" asked Natsu.

"Yes?" said Erza suspiciously.

"It was Lucy's turn to pick, and that's basically what the plot was," said Natsu.

"…I see," said Erza. "And how did this movie end, dare I ask?"

"Dunno," said Natsu. "I fell asleep half an hour in."

"So basically, you have no idea how this is supposed to work," said Erza dangerously.

Natsu gulped. "No, but… look at it this way! It's almost like a real relationship this way! We'll be forced to wing it! You know, improvise! You'd go into any other relationship blind, right?"

"Sure. Whatever," said Erza flatly. "Come. We're going to inform the guild."

"Now?" asked Natsu. "But we're not even used to kissing yet!"

"I'll not wait all day for you!" Erza shouted, already several steps away.

Natsu could only hurry to catch up with Erza's long strides. All he could think at the moment was that he'd better be the best man at her and Jellal's wedding for this shit.

* * *

**Yeah... I'm not so sure about this. The more I think about it, the less I want to actually go through with this. Urrrgh...**

**You know what? No! I just gotta be positive! Just put them in couples situations, and the rest will write itself! Yeah, that works! I hope.**

**Oh well, until next time, peace and love from Nightlingbolt.**


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